Anticipating Change, Creating Stability
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
EBMUD WARDS Board OF DIRECTORS Board Member Ward SUISUN Anticipating BAY SAN PABLO BAY Lesa R. McIntosh 1 John A. Coleman 2 Katy Foulkes 3 4 Change, Creating 242 Andy Katz 4 1 80 Doug Linney 5 580 RICHMOND William B. Patterson 6 Stability Frank Mellon 7 WALNUT CREEK EAST BAY MUNICIPAL UTILITY DISTRICT 3 LAFAYETTE 4 24 Alexander R. Coate, General Manager 2010-2011 BIENNIAL REPORT BERKELEY 2 680 13 EBMUD provides high-quality drinking water S A 80 N for 1.3 million customers in Alameda and F R SAN A N Contra Costa counties. FRANCISCO OAKLAND SAN C ALAMEDA RAMON I S C 580 O 6 EBMUD’s award-winning wastewater B A Y 5 7 treatment plant generates renewable energy 880 CASTRO from waste and protects San Francisco Bay; VALLEY 580 it serves 650,000 customers. Editor: Cheryl Farr Design: Todd Salerno Photography: John Benson, Abby Figueroa, EBMUD SERVICE AREA Todd Salerno, Rich Turner, Kingmond Young SUISUN Maps: EBMUD Graphic Design BAY SAN PABLO BAY Printing: EBMUD Reprographics Legend Pub. 134 Dec 2011 1.5M Water Service Area Wastewater Service Area RICHMOND San Pablo Reservoir Briones Reservoir WALNUT CREEK LAFAYETTE Lafayette Reservoir BERKELEY EAST BAY MUNICIPAL UTILITY DISTRICT 375 11th Street, Oakland, CA 94607 S A N F 1-866-40-EBMUD R SAN A Upper FRANCISCO N San Leandro OAKLAND Reservoir SAN C ALAMEDA RAMON www.ebmud.com I S C O B A Y Chabot Reservoir CASTRO VALLEY Focus on Reliability LEtter from THE General manaGER The last two years have been tumultuous. While As EBMUD’s recently-appointed General Manager, I am drought released its grip on our region, record rains privileged to work with the EBMUD Board of Directors challenged us to manage against floods. Excellence and our dedicated employees to continue a tradition in financial management resulted in a AAA bond of excellence in water and wastewater operations. rating, yet budget shortfalls due to a drought and the poor economy required a hiring freeze and spending cuts. Limited resources meant making tough decisions among capital investments. Still, we made remarkable progress toward a stable future. EBMUD is weathering the economic challenges the region faces by focusing on the basics: water and wastewater system safety and reliability, and environmental stewardship. We are meeting our targets for infrastructure key performance indicators. We have better drought water supplies and stronger dams in place. We are anticipating future needs by building better customer service software and strengthening our pool of potential employees. The years ahead will continue to test us, and we Our good fortune is a pure water source that enables welcome the challenge. Lean budget years force our customers to enjoy water quality that ranks difficult choices about what matters most, but among the best in the world. Our job is to leave a also catalyze the interest in, and need for, new legacy that reveals our commitment to reliability, approaches that will make the organization even controls costs, expresses our high regard for our 1.3 better and more efficient in the years to come. million customers and demonstrates our diligent Our region has drawn heavily on the 20th century stewardship of the natural resources entrusted to us. infrastructure that made reliable water supplies and a cleaner Bay possible. Now, it’s our turn to continue a tradition of wise investments in the water and wastewater systems for the next generation. Alexander R. Coate General Manager The Mokelumne Day Use Area, adjacent to the Mokelumne River Fish Hatchery, is at the base of EBMUD’s Camanche Dam in the Sierra foothills. Highlights July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2011 Overview of the Sierra Mountains. Historically, precipitation in On July 1, 2009, an improving water supply outlook this watershed varies widely. Dry years can mean ten allowed EBMUD to end mandatory rationing as times less precipitation compared to wet years. With drought loosened its grip on the East Bay. For the the recent completion of a new pumping facility on remainder of that year customers were asked to the Sacramento River, EBMUD customers are assured continue 10 percent voluntary rationing. Soon, more reliable dry year supplies. EBMUD has studied abundant winter rain filled reservoirs and by April the future water needs of East Bay residents and 2010, EBMUD was able to let customers know that all businesses to the year 2040. The work to meet those that was needed was ongoing wise water use. needs is in progress. Overall, water demand was down between summer Customers First EBMUD practices 2009 and 2011. The fresh experience of serious short- Quality customer service is the result of quality staff. environmental stewardship at ages plus the economic downturn caused East Bay EBMUD cultivates employee knowledge and skill and home, building businesses to slow and families to watch their water supplements it with wise use of technology. We ask sustainable energy budgets carefully. At EBMUD, rigorous cutbacks and for customer feedback, and we use that feedback to and water-efficient prudent budgeting offset revenue shortfalls. learn and improve. Over the past two years, we built features into new customer service software so employees can new facilities like Reliable Water Supplies the Mokelumne continue serving customer needs in the future and EBMUD customers receive 90 percent of their water Watershed office in customers can access information any day at any time. the Sierra foothills. from the Mokelumne River watershed in the foothills Environmental StewardsHip each year. In 2011, EBMUD launched a collaborative Night and day, EBMUD led the effort to reduce the risk of exposure regional program to fix local sewer pipes and make EBMUD crews work to provide high to lead in drinking water by sponsoring state San Francisco Bay even healthier by reducing excess quality, dependable legislation that became a model for national law. sewage flows that reach the Bay during large storms. water service to East We achieved records in regulatory compliance and EBMUD’s efforts to keep facilities and people safe Bay communities. safe management of water and wastewater facilities from seismic hazards were boosted when an upgrade that few other entities in the world have matched. To to San Pablo Reservoir’s dam was completed. protect endangered species, EBMUD adopted one of Prudent BudGets the nation’s largest Safe Harbor Agreements. Water supplies were up, yet demand was down. Durable Infrastructure EBMUD held costs down when water system Much of the water infrastructure we rely on today revenues came in lower than budgeted by $13 was built during the East Bay’s rapid growth period million in FY10 and $23.6 million in FY11. EBMUD after World War II—a durable asset that has given funded investments in areas that would enhance us exceptional service but requires more and more public and worker safety and ensure regulatory care as it ages. Our crews complete more than 23,000 compliance, and made prudent choices as to what planned preventative work orders and respond other improvements could be delayed. promptly to make more than 56,000 corrective repairs 3 THE Delta: WatersHED OF common concern Reliable Water Supplies While EBMUD’s water supplies are not taken directly water supply needs of the millions of Californians from the Delta, the Delta watershed is critical to who rely on the Delta must be met in a way that EBMUD produced about 161 million our water supply reliability and fishery protection fairly apportions costs and responsibilities. EBMUD to plan, design and construct this facility. Future programs. EBMUD’s water supply aqueducts cross has stood with other Northern California water gallons of water per day during FY10-11. costs related to operations and maintenance will be fragile Delta levees to reach the East Bay. The health suppliers to ensure that all beneficiaries bear their recouped via a monthly service charge to Chevron. That’s more than two and a half billion of the Delta also is critical to the Mokelumne fishery fair share of responsibility and cost Diversified water supplies eight-ounce glasses every 24 hours. because the operation of major diversions and for the Delta. Working together as the Freeport Regional pumps can affect the migration of salmon Preparation for mid-21st Century Water Authority, EBMUD and Sacramento County and steelhead as they move to and water needs completed the Freeport Regional Water Facility. from the ocean. EBMUD invests Long-term planning helps EBMUD adjust to new Construction began in June 2007 and ended in in Delta levee maintenance to protect the regulations, population change, climate change and November 2011. The Sacramento River source will ecosystem in the Delta and to protect EBMUD’s other uncertainties. Long-term water supply plans ease the severity of future droughts in the East Bay. aqueducts. This ongoing investment is important, focus on maximizing cost-effective water conserva- The facility can deliver up to 100 MGD of water to but not enough. tion and water recycling, preserving and protecting EBMUD. Had the Freeport facility been in place in In statewide work to chart the Delta’s future, EBMUD the environment and seeking water supply and 2008, mandatory rationing that year by EBMUD has advocated for a long-term sustainable plan that storage solutions that benefit multiple regions. customers would not have been necessary. addresses both ecosystem and levee restoration. The EBMUD researched ways to extend EBMUD also completed the Bayside Groundwater water conservation and recycling into Facility, a state of the art groundwater well that can the future and determined that water inject water into a deep aquifer for storage more savings from conservation, recycling than 500 feet below ground. During droughts, water and rationing in dry years can meet from the well can be pumped from the aquifer, the increased water needs from treated at the on-site water treatment plant and projected population growth.